Playing House
by Pixie Lala XOXO
Summary: Max's mom leaves her and her twin brother Iggy alone for three whole days. The catch? They also have to babysit their four siblings. What happens when Iggy invites a friend to help them? What if Nudge suggests they play and extended game of 'House? Will Max be able to survive three days like this? AU, no wings.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! So basically, I'm writing this story for StillFallingAngel as part of their challenge. It's an AU with no wings.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Pixie Lala XOXO

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride! James Patterson does!

Please note: The ages are different in this story.

Angel: 6

Gazzy: 7

Ella: 9

Nudge: 12

Iggy, Fang, and Max: 17 Max and Iggy are twins.

Also, please keep in mind that they're all adopted except for Max, Iggy, and Ella.

.oO0Oo.

"Nudge!" mom called as she began to drag her over-stuffed suitcase down the front stairs. "Can you grab the blue bag off of my bed for me?"

Nudge nodded as she bounded up the stairs to get the bag.

When mom got to the bottom of the stairs she handed me a slip of paper. There were a few phone numbers hastily scrawled across it.

"I'll be gone for three days," mom said as she handed Iggy a set of labeled keys. "You," she pointed to me. "And your brother," she pointed to Iggy. "Are in charge. Remember, no parties. Oh, and your grandmother will be here in two days to check on you guys."

Iggy groaned. "Grandma? Why is she coming? We're old enough to take care of ourselves."

Mom laughed. "Iggy, you're a hormonal seventeen year old. Just be happy I'm leaving you alone for more than 24 hours."

Nudge came running down the stairs and handed mom her bag. "Here you go."

Mom kissed Nudge's forehead. "Thanks sweetie," she opened the door and put her blue bag over her shoulder. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Bye!"

The five of us stood on the front porch and waved as mom's taxi sped off down the street. The moment the taxi turned the corner at the end of the street we all dispersed, off to do our own things.

Angel and Gazzy raced to the living room and started to fight over the TV remote.

"I'm calling Theresa!" shouted Nudge as she charged to her bedroom, phone in hand.

Ella grabbed her sketch journal and sat down at the kitchen table with her colored pencils amd got to work on a drawing.

"So, what should we do?" I asked Iggy.

"Hmm?" Iggy turned in my general direction. "I don't know," he said dismissively. "What time is it?"

"Eight thirty AM, on the dot," I replied. "Why?"

Iggy nodded, completely ignoring my question, and went to go sit down on the couch. "He should be here soon."

"He?" I asked.

"Yeah. I invited a friend to help us survive looking after the kids," Iggy brushed it off as if it it wasn't a .

"Well, who did you invite?"

Iggy shrugged. "Does it matter?"

I groaned and threw my hands in the air. This was hopeless. Taking a deep breath, I trudged up the stairs to my room and tried to calm myself down. So what if Iggy had invited someone without my permission? We were in this together and we would need all the help we could get. My 72 hours of freedom had started and the clock was ticking fast. I grabbed my ipod, thinking that maybe I could at least get a little rest before having to head downstairs again to check on everyone. Mom had left the six of us alone before, just not for three whole days.

I was halfway through my playlist and almost half asleep when the sound of the doorbell startled me out of my reverie. Standing at the very top of the staircase, I was able to lean over the railing to get a look at who was at the door.

Iggy shuffled to the door and opened it. I'm pretty sure I almost screamed when I saw who was at the door.

Fang Ride.

.oO0Oo.

I had to hide. Or run away. Anything but go downstairs and see that obsidian-haired boy that was standing in my living room, conversing with my brother.

You see, Fang and I had an interesting relantionship. We had been best friends as kids. Then he moved away when we were ten and everything changed. About a year ago I found out that he was moving back into town. What I didn't find out was that he was moving back into town with his girlfriend, Lisa.

I grabbed a clump of my unruly hair and scrunched it up between my fingers. What was I supposed to do? Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried to think of a way to avoid the inevitably awkward situation that was going to occur downstairs if I couldn't get my butt down there and deal with it.

I took a deep breath. I could do this. Running my fingers through my hair, I started slowly creeping down the stairs. The front door was only a few feet away from the bottom of the stairs. Piece of cake, if I was quiet enough. Halfway to the door, a low and all too familiar voice made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Max, it's nice of you to join us."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride. I don't.

Also, a big "Thank You!' to my beta reader. The suggestions helped a lot.

.oO0Oo.

"Come on, Max. We have a guest," Iggy grabbed my elbow and steered me into the middle of the room. He pushed me towards Fang."Be nice."

Fang stuck out his hand for me to shake. I wrinkled my nose and stared at his hand for a few seconds before Iggy elbowed me in the ribcage and, with a small yelp because Iggy is notorious for having very bony elbows, I shook Fang's hand.

"It's nice to see you again," Fang said with a wink. I tried not to vomit.

"I wish I could say the same," I spat at him.

Fang smirked and sat down on the couch, lazily putting his feet up on the coffee table.

I looked at Iggy and grabbed his sleeve, pulling him into our mom's office.

"Woah." He stumbled. "What did you do that for?"

"I needed to talk to you," I whispered. "Privately."

He leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Shoot."

"How could you invite him? You know we don't get along!" I was practically shouting as I paced back and forth on the carpet. "He doesn't deserve to be here."

Iggy shrugged and put his hands on my shoulders. "Max, I know you hate him. And I know that he broke your heart. But trust me on this, it's about time you guys started over. Do you know why I invited him? He's supposed to be on vacation with Lisa. She dumped him and sent him home. He can't go to his own house because his parents are away on vacation and they're having the house renovated."

I sighed. "Fine. Fang can stay."

"Thanks," said Iggy as he went to rejoin the people in the living room.

I took a few deep breaths and tried not to let my head explode. I leaned against my mom's desk. Fang and Lisa broke up? After all this time? I frowned. The next three days were going to be awful.

"So what should we do now?" I asked, striding into the living room.

"I don't know," said Ella. "Mom left a list of things on the kitchen counter."

I raised an eyebrow at her and went to go find the list. The list turned out to be a three page manual for Iggy and I about things that would be happening over the next few days. I skimmed over the majority of it because it was pretty much how things normally go. But I gasped when I saw the big bold letters at the bottom of the page:

DON'T FORGET: Angel's birthday party is on Saturday. There is an entertainer coming at noon. She'll handle everything.

I bit my lip. Wouldn't it have been nice of mom to tell me this before? I called Iggy over and quickly read the list to him.

"So we have to keep a bunch of six year old girls happy until the entertainer gets here?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Well, that'll be fun!" he said with a sarcastic smile.

.oO0Oo.

We spent the next hour and a half playing Candy Land. Don't ask, it was Angel's idea and she had hidden the TV remote and refused to tell us where it was unless we played at least three rounds of her favorite board game. It was almost noon by the time we finished the game. Angel had pulled the remote out from under the couch and was in the process of handing it to me when Nudge snatched it out of Angel's hand.

"How about we play another game instead of watching TV," Nudge suggested as she shoved the remote into her back pocket.

Iggy leaned back against the back of the couch. "What kind of game do you have in mind?"

"It's called 'House'." Nudge wiggled her eyebrows. "Two of us get to be the mom and dad and the rest of us are their kids. We could play it until Mom gets back."

"And who would be the mom and dad?" Iggy mused.

"Well, Max would have to be the mom. She's the oldest girl," Angel said as she crawled into my lap.

"And Fang could be the dad!" Ella exclaimed. Fang got really pale and he looked a bit like he was choking.

No way was I going to let Nudge talk me into this. It was a bad idea. Nudge's ideas usually ended up with someone in tears, a fire, or someone getting their eyebrows singed off. I wasn't going to let her do this. Fang was not going to be the dad.

"No." I tried to keep myvoice steady. Kids can sense fear. "This is a bad idea."

Angel turned around in my lap and started giving me Bambi eyes."Please, Max," she said. "It's only for a few days."

I groaned, knowing I would regret this later. "Fine. We can play house."

"Yay!" Nudge bounced up and down on her heels and clapped her hands.

Oh no. What had I gotten myself into?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.

.oO0Oo.

I yawned as I scrolled through the website for the entertainer that was coming for Angel's party tomorrow. Mom hImmd emailed me more information on the party. The entertainer's name was 'Felicity the Fairy' and she specialized in kid's parties. Mom had ordered a cake and it was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, three hours before the party.

Angel, Gazzy, Ella, Nudge, Iggy, and Fang had gone shopping for supplies for dinner and were due to come back any minute now. Suddenly I heard the door open and the sound of voices and footsteps filled the front hall.

"We're home, mom!" Gazzy shouted down the hall.

I winced at the name 'mom' and closed my laptop.

Fang snickered as he walked into the kitchen and plopped a huge bag of groceries onto the counter. "You should've seen the looks on people's faces when Angel called me 'daddy' in front of the entire store."

I smirked and stood up, hooking my thumbs into my back pockets. "So, Iggy, when are you going to get started on dinner?" I asked.

"Hmm," said Iggy. "Shouldn't the parents cook dinner?"

"No," I said, remembering the last time I had to make dinner. "You know I'm terrible at cooking. This wasn't part of the game."

Iggy laughed. "Relax, Fang will help you."

Fang shrugged. "I'm probably just as bad as Max."

Nudge started putting some of the groceries away and as she was putting a carton of milk away in the fridge she turned to me. "Max, if you're going to be the mom you have to cook."

"I didn't want to be the mom in the first place!" I exclaimed.

"Max, it's okay," said Fang. "I'm sure your mom has an easy recipe lying around somewhere."

.oO0Oo.

"How about this one?" Fang asked as he slid a cookbook across the counter towards me. He had his finger on one of the recipes.

I leaned over and skimmed over the list of ingredients. "What's mascarpone?"

"I have no idea," Fang muttered and continued flipping through the book.

We had been looking for a recipe for over half an hour and I was starting to think that we should just order pizza. Sadly, Fang seemed pretty determined to make our own dinner.

"Here's one," I pointed to a recipe for spaghetti and tomato sauce.

Fang leaned closer and looked at the recipe. "It looks pretty easy."

I nodded. "Yup. All we have to do is cook the pasta and heat up the sauce. What could be easier?"

Apparently, a lot of things are easier than cooking spaghetti. I realized this after Fang accidentally spilled the entire pot of tomato sauce all over the floor, creating a huge red stain on the brand new hardwood. Since we only had one can of tomato sauce, that meant we would only be having plain pasta for dinner.

"Jeez, Max," said Fang as he frantically tried to clean up the huge pile of sloppy red sauce off of the floor. "I'm really sorry."

"No. It's fine. It's not like this was brand new or anything," I knelt down beside him and helped him clean up the mess.

"Sarcasm?" Fang asked.

I nodded.

It took a while to get all the sauce off the floor and it left a dark red mark in the middle of the kitchen. I stared at the stain for a little while. There was no way we would be able to hide this when mom got back.

"I'll be right back," I said to Fang. I dashed upstairs to the bathroom that Nudge and I shared. On the floor was a big fuzzy rug. I grabbed it and walked downstairs.

"Good idea," said Fang as I tossed the rug over the stain.

Mentally patting myself on the back, I walked over to the stove and checked on the pasta. "Uh... Fang?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he kicked the rug over a bit so that it covered the stain completely.

"Are the noodles supposed to be this mushy?"

"No. Why?"

I stirred the pasta a bit more. "Because I think we made soup."

"Crap. Really?" he walked over to me and looked into the pot.

"Yup. Is this even edible anymore?" I asked.

"I don't think so." he replied.

"Pizza?"

"Pizza," I agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

Fang and I made sure we ordered enough pizza to feed everyone for the next two days. By the time we finished dinner it was already time for bed. I was about to head to the room I shared with Nudge when I heard Angel calling me from her bedroom.

"Mommy, can you please tuck me in?" Angel was sitting on her bed looking at me curiously when I opened her door.

A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth as I nodded and crossed the room towards her bed. Angel grinned and I tucked her in.

"Is that better?" I asked and got up to leave.

"Wait!" Angel called. "I have a question."

I grinned and sat down at the end of her bed. "Ask away, sweetie."

"Do you love Fang?"

Her question caught me completely off guard and I paled. "What on earth would make you think that I love him? And for the record, I don't."

Angel shrugged. "I don't know. I've heard you talk to Nudge about him before."

"Sweetie, the way I feel about Fang is... complicated," I sighed. "You don't have to worry about those kinds of things."

"That's okay. I was just wondering. Goodnight!" she smiled and nestled into her bed.

I smiled. "Goodnight, Angel." I took a deep breath and left the room.

"Max?" Fang was waiting for me outside Angel's room. "Where do you keep the pillows? There aren't any in the guest room."

"Linen closet," I muttered.

"Where's the linen closet?" Fang grinned.

I groaned and took a few more steps down the hall, coming to stop in front of one of the doors. I opened it and gestured to the top shelf where four pillows were neatly stacked on top of eachother.

"Thanks," said Fang. He reached up to grabbed one of the pillows but stopped halfway and bit his lip. "You know, I didn't mean to upset you by coming here. I don't have anywhere else to go until my parents get home."

"I know that," I gritted my teeth and took the pillow down. My nails dug into the pillow as I handed it to him. "I just expected Iggy to tell me you were coming."

"Don't drag him into this."

"Who? Iggy? I'm not. All I'm saying is that if I had my way, you wouldn't be here," with that, I turned on my heel and left him standing in the middle of the hallway. When I got to my room a changed into my pajamas quickly and silently crawled into bed, careful note to wake up Nudge. I didn't sleep at all.

Thanks to Angel's question, I spent all night thinking about Fang. I know what you're thinking. 'Max! You haven't seen him in years! He was ten when he moved away. Of course he was going to move on!' Trust me, I've told myself that hundreds of times. I guess that there was some part of me that thought, when I heard he would be coming back, that we would be together and it would all be perfect. Of course, seeing him with Lisa ended all my impossible fantasies of us ever dating. I spent weeks trying to forget my feelings for him and it got to a point where I knew that the only thing I could do was harden my heart against him. That plan actually worked for a while. I mean, everything was going perfectly until that stupid brother of mine had to invite him over.

.oO0Oo.

I got up late and meandered downstairs for breakfast. I was greeted by the sight of Fang, in his pajamas, pacing back and forth in the kitchen while he shouted at someone on the phone. Surprised, I sauntered past the kitchen and into the living room where I found Iggy sprawled out on one of the couches.

"Who is Fang yelling at?" I asked, sitting down in an armchair.

"The lady who was supposed to make the cake for Angel's party cancelled," said Iggy. "When I told Fang he rang them up again and told me he was going to give them a piece of his mind. I think he's doing rather well."

I was about to respond when I noticed that the yelling had stopped. Sure enough, Fang walked into the living room and turned to me.

"So, are you up for another cooking challenge?" he asked with mock enthusiasm. "We'll be making Angel's cake."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I looked at Iggy. "Can you take Gazzy, Nudge, Ella, and Angel out shopping to get cake supplies? Fang and I still have to decorate the house."

Iggy nodded and went to find the kids.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me. "How much time do we have until the party?"

I checked my watch. "Two hours."

"We're going to have to go fast."


	5. Chapter 5

"So," I asked and leaned against the counter, watching as Fang taped one end of a streamer to the wall. "Have you ever made a cake before?"

Fang laughed. "Nope. And I asume you haven't either."

I shook my head, grabbed the other end of the streamer he was holding, and started to tape it up about five feet from where Fang was standing, letting the part in the middle droop a bit.

After we finished putting up the streamers we got started on the balloons. Fang helped me tie about ten balloons to the backs of all the dining room chairs. All we had to do now was make the cake.

.oO0Oo.

Iggy and the kids ended up getting home around twenty minutes late which meant we only had an hour to make the cake. Fang and I got to to work right away.

"The oven's preheated!" I said, feeling proud of myself.

"Max?" Fang asked.

"Yes?" I answered and walked over to where Fang was. He had dumped the contents of the boxed cake batter into a bowl and was staring at the directions.

"It says we need two tablespoons of oil. What kind of oil?"

"Olive oil, maybe?" I shrugged.

"You should know. You were in home ec. last year," he tossed the directions at me.

I caught the piece of paper and pinched it between my fingers. "Correction: I was in home ec. for a week until I nearly burned the school down."

Fang sighed. "Fine. Maybe it's baby oil," suggested Fang.

"Why would you put that in cake?" I asked and walked over to the pantry. Standing on my toes, I scanned the top shelf for what I was looking for. After a while of looking I found the tall bottle of canola oil that I had seen mom use when she cooked. "I think this is it," I handed the bottle to Fang.

He grinned. "It's worth a try."

.oO0Oo.

Groaning, I sat up and blew a stray strand of hair out of my face. "When will the cake be finished?"

Fang smirked. "Soon."

We were sitting in the living room, watching TV, while we waited for the cake to finish baking. Fang had insisted that we watch the football game. He said it was his favourite sport but I think he only watched it because of the cheerleaders. A lound 'ding' startled me out of my reverie and I rushed to the kitchen to take the cake out of the oven. It was fully cooked and , thankfully, not burnt.

"And now we have to wait for it to cool," said Fang, reading the directions once again.

"Or we could just put it in the freezer," I suggested.

"Good idea," Fang muttered as he snatched the oven mitts from me and put them on. I watched as he carefully opened the freezer drawer with his foot and placed the cake on the top rack.

After a good, long seven minutes the cake was ready to be iced. I grabbed the canister of Betty Crocker icing and opened it. Fang walked into the kitchen just as I was getting a knife out for the icing.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded and handed him a second knife. "Ready."

.oO0Oo.

The cake was a mess. The icing stuck to the cake and would rip up little bits of cake as I dragged the knife across the top. It ended up being a big pile of cake and crumby icing. At least it would taste good. I told Fang to do the dishes and he obliged, but not without mumbling a few choice words under his breath. I decided to place the sprinkles on the cake so that they covered up most of the crumbs. I was so absorbed in my strategic sprinkle placing that I didn't notice that Fang had been trying to get my attention for about thirty seconds.

"Max," he said.

"What do you want?" I asked, looking up from the cake.

The moment a turned around I knew something was wrong. Fang had a huge and uncharacteristic smile plastered across his face and a spoonful of icing in his hand. In three seconds flat, he pulled the spoon back and fired a huge glob of sugary icing at me.

"Fang!" I shouted, trying to duck but ending up with a huge splatter of icing on my shirt.

Fang laughed and plunged the spoon into the canister of icing again. My eyes widened. I needed to defend myself. Without thinking, I grabbed a chunk of the cake and hurled it at him, catching him right on the nose. Before I could grab another handful of cake, Fang had already fired the spoon of icing and it hit me again. This time, on my neck.

Fang laughed. We went back and forth for a while and ended up getting our selves and the kitchen completely covered in icing and cake bits. Crap.

"What did you guys do?" Iggy asked, shocked as he stared at the mess Fang and I were standing in.

"Um... We were just icing the cake," I said.

"And things got... A little out of hand," Fang finished.

Iggy groaned. "Ella, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy! Get your butts down here and help us clean up this mess!"

.oO0Oo.

We were able to finish cleaning the kitchen with only five minutes to spare. Iggy left to go buy a cake and Fang and I were left in charge of the kids to wait for the entertainer. She ended up being twenty minutes late so Fang and I had to keep a whole army of six year olds happy for longer than we had expected. Luckily, everything was smooth sailing from there. Well, almost.

.oO0Oo.

Author's Note:

Hello! I am so sorry for the lack of updates. I've been spending almost all my time on another writing website and this story just got lost in all of it. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I promise I'll try to update more.

Cheers,

Pixie Lala XOXO


End file.
